Danny Green, Sixers not fearful of health facing Nets after Kevin Durant fiasco
The NBA is wading through murky waters right now as they work through playing a safe season in the midst of a global pandemic and on Friday night, they received a lot of backlash for the way they handled things.
The Brooklyn Nets were set to take on the Toronto Raptors at home and the league ruled that Kevin Durant could not play due to the health and safety protocols. So, the Nets went on with the game without him, but the league then gave Durant the green light that he was cleared and he could play late in the first quarter.
He then played 19 minutes and in the third quarter, the league then said that he could not play due to the protocols and he entered contact tracing. Needless to say, Durant was not very happy with what went down on Friday.
The Nets are set to take on the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center and in a season where health has been at the forefront, there could be a little wariness from the Sixers to play this game after what they went through in early January with their own entrance in the protocols, which just so happened to be after a matchup with the Nets on the road.
“I don’t think there’s any fear for us on or off the court, basketball-wise or protocol wise, but that’s just me. I can’t speak for everybody,” said veteran Danny Green at shootaround on Saturday morning. “I think most of the guys here have probably already caught it, knock on wood, hope I don’t catch it again, but I think most guys are kind of past that point and think they have antibodies and not as worried.”
Meanwhile, Durant was initially ruled out for this game, but now he is listed as questionable a the NBA goes through the contact tracing and determines whether he is cleared to play or not. The Nets will be missing Kyrie Irving with a finger injury, but if Durant plays, that’s obviously a big boost for Brooklyn.
“If he clears, he clears, we’re just gonna play basketball,” Green added. “I think, if anything, more people are focused on the basketball aspect of it. How we’re going to guard him, how we’re going to play him, and Kyrie and James (Harden), that three-headed monster is a tough one.”
Nets say Kevin Durant (health and safety) is questionable for tonight and Kyrie Irving is out due to an index finger sprain.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) February 6, 2021
“From a health standpoint, from my perspective, I don’t think we’re afraid or fearful, I’m not,” Green continued. “We do know the league’s protocols, we do understand the safety reasons for guys sitting out or pulling guys, and we have to follow suit. We’ve been in that situation before plenty of times, we’ve had issues or at times we had to sit out postpone games. So we’re gonna stay with the steps that the league might have to take.”
The Sixers will have to focus on getting back in the win column following their loss to the Portland Trail Blazers at home on Thursday. That is what they’re focused on.
“We’re looking forward to a basketball game tonight and we’ve got to come out and put our best forward,” the veteran finished. “We have to bounce back. A goal for us this year not to lose two games in a row and we have to keep leading that way.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
